Claymore-Red Vs Blue
by Farzi
Summary: Okay-this-just...just read it-red vs blue superserious claymore...just..poor claymores..
1. Chapter 1

Mostly to reduce the risk of me buring myself out on the fire and fury bit-I'm gonna go ahead and publish this little dandy-not to mention I need extra practice on my writing and grammar skills.

So here's the deal-Claymore is an incredably dark, serious manga with some humor(thanks to a certain individual who shall remain unmentioned)-so I figured-throw in the bumbling Reds and Blues-and we'll see what happens.

Just so your aware-lots and lots of stupidity shall be going into this-And I don't own claymore.

Chapter 1-Sarge's Plan(Where's Caboose?)

"WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"

Lennard Church-also known as the A.I. Alpha-was fuming-they had arrived in a very, very strange situation. First-they had come across some kind of alien artifact-and of course, Caboose just had to mess with it-and then they wound up on some-probably ass end of the galaxy-planet. "Come Church-you need to see this!" Came Lavernus Tucker's somewhat high pitched, annoying voice. He spotte the teal-armored trooper waving him up to the ridge.

"Yea yea, I'm comin." Hefting the sniper rife-which admittedly he was not very good with simply because of a lack of practice-the leader of the blues broke into a run-why the fuck was he running anyways? "Man-can't even get one, fucking moment to my self-" He grumbled, then switched to whiny, nasily tone-"Come over here and look this Church! I don't know what to do Church!"

"Fucking assholes," He muttered, switching back to his normal voice, "This place sucks even worse than blood gulch!" Nearly out of breath-which was strange since he was in a robotic body-Church came up to where he'd last seen Tucker. Him, Caboose-and of course-the natves-were standing with them-silver eyed warriors called claymores-well-one of them anyways. "W-whoo-what do-what do you want?" He panted, still trying to get over the fact that somehow-despite have a machine for a body-he was panting. "You okay?" Asked a warrior-Helen he thought her name was.

"Y-Yeah." He steadied himself, and then glared at them all-well as much as you could glare through a helmet. "Alright-why'd you call me up here?" He asked in an annoyed tone, checking his rifle. "That scarred chick-Miria?" Tucker said, shifted the battle rifle in his hands from one hand ot the next, "Said she wanted to talk to you. About the Reds." He glance back at where the Reds and several other claymores were gathered-"Also mentioned something about Caboose."

"Wonderful," Church rolled his eyes, "Just fucking wonderful." He motioned for the two of them to follow him-"Let's go see what she wants."

Helen chuckled as he ran past them. "Any particular reason he's pissed?" She asked as they followed the A.I. "Beats me-but then again, Church is always pissed." Tucker replied, keeping a steady jog, "Especially anything that concerns Caboose, the Reds, or just anything in general." Helen chuckled darkly-sounded like her kind of person-thingy.

XXXXX

"No!" Miria said in an exasperated tone, placing the palm of her hand against her head, "For the last time Sergeant-that idea is completely idiotic-how in the hell did you even get command of a sqaudron!" The leader of the Reds, a gruff man simply called Sarge, had been lobbying-or more like simpy forcing and not listening to anything she said.

"It's because of my genius cunning and superior leadership skills." The bright-red armored soldier said in a proud voice. "Right," Said a gold(or was it orange?)-colored soldier-Griff, who seemed a little too pudgy for his armor-it looked like the seams had been streatched to their limit-indicating a severe lack of exercise, "I'm sure that exactly why we always seem to be getting our asses kicked."

"Well that explains an awful lot." Helen commented as they came up. "Alright-what's the problem?" Asked Church in an annoyed tone, glaring at each one of them. "He won't listen to the captian!" Said Tabathat, pointing at the red lead, "His plan is-" 

"It's genius!" Exlaimed Sarge jubeliantly, causing Miria to growl. "We got a call for an awkened being," The captain of the claymores explained, not taking her eyes off the red leader, "We were about to send a team out when this fool-" She nodded her head indicating Sarge-"Decided he wanted to help-only his version of help isn't what we need." Church let out an annoyed sigh and shook his head, "For the last time Sarge," He said, carefully drawing out each syllable and resisting the urge to throttle the guy, "These guys know more about killing these 'Awakened Beings' than we do-so fighting against some kind of super predator that can completely and utterly fuck our shit up with no kind of training really isn't the greatest idea."

"The plan is simple-we use someone whose sheer plumpness makes them a slow and perfect target for it." Sarge explained, stealing a sidlong glance at the pudgy trooper while completely oblivous to anything that Church, Miria, or the others had said, "Now while its busy ensuring that someone with a terrible and well deservered death, we'll sneak up behind it and then blast it into a bloody pulp while its busy eating said sombody."

"Yeah-somehow I don't think its going to cooperate with that plan." Grif retorted sarcastically. "Of course we could just always let them handle it and not get our guts eaten." Sarge glared at him, "Now Grif-I know we've had our diffrences in the past-you with your insubordination and lazyness and me with constantly plotting to kill you("By the gods." Miria groaned while Helen put a hand over her mouth)-"But I know if we can work together, we can make your death worth something." Helen chuckled. "Man, and I thought our leader was an asshole." Tucker muttered as Church and Miria shook their heads.

"Statistcally speaking sir," Simmions said, his voice taking on that irritatingly helpful-'_kiss ass'_-voice, "Humans have been shown to almost no chance of-" Sarge's wordless, angry sputters caused him to trail off. "Erm," He said, his voice suddenly very nervous, "Griff did it!" "What the hell did I do?" Griff retorted defensively. "You were born." Simmions growled back.

As they argued, Church shook his head. "For the love of god." He looked at Miria. "This is what I've been putting up with for ten fucking years." Chruch snarled in irritation, "They go on and on and on..." He sighed in fustration. "Now-your...friend here also mentioned something about Caboose." Miria tunred and looked him in the eye-"Yes...about him-where is he?"

"What-Tucker I thought he was with you?" Church was looking aroung frantically, searching around for the blue armored soldier. "Dude, I was in 'Alone time'" Tucker shot back, causing not more than a few rasied eyebrows from the women. "How the fuck am I supposed to keep an on that idiot."

"What exactly is 'Alone Time'" Helen inquired, to which Church responded with an exasperated sigh-"Don't ask." He tunred to the still arguing bunch and shouted-"HEY! ANY OF YOU KNOW WHERE CABOOSE IS!" They all turned, "No-we thought he was-"

_BOOOM!_

"SON OF A BITCH! RUN!" A bald man and two claymore were running towards them-a huge-"Oh shit." Tucker said, turning and running as fast as his legs could carry him, "BIG. FUCKING. MACHINE!" Baldie said, shouting and trying to catch his breath.

A massive tank, with a turret placed towards the rear, began to search for new targets. _"Aquiring new targets." _A cool femail voice spoke over the radio. It began to zero in on church.

"Well-I guess we figured out where Caboose is." Church shouted as they all hid behind a rock, a cannon round narrowly missing him as he lept forward and landed on Miria.

xxxxx

I did my best. Poor gang-their all gonna die...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two-The Tank and the Jealous Caymore

Boom! Miria pushed Church off of her as they all hid. "Tucker-the next time Caboose is with you," Church growled menacingly at his friend, "You watch him and don't let him anywhere near the tank-so we don't have to deal with shit like this-" He guesture behind him, indicating the tank, "-and get killed becuase you dicided to go off and have some 'alone time'." Tucker growled-"Hey I can't help the guys a team killer!"

"Hello!" Came a cheery and somewhat..well with no other way to put it-dumb-voice, "And how you all today?"

"Damn it Caboose! Can't you see we're trying to avoid you killing us!" Church snapped as another round impacted the large boulder and sent bits of stone flying everywhere, "Wait-what? Caboose?" He did a double take along with everyone else, staring at the blue armored soldiers. "We thought you were in that tank!"

"Yeah," Caboose said, oblivious as always to the dangerous plight that confronted them, "I was standing by the tank talking to a couple of the nice ladies there and Tex showed up to fix it then we got to talking to her, then the manly girl saw another manly girl and two others talking to a bald man in black and then she got all mad and hopped in the tank and started shooting at them."

They all stared at him-the fact he had explained the whole situation so casually-as if though he were talking about the weather, "And then she got mad and shot the other manly claymore who painted the ground red and then she began to shoot at them-Tex told me to come find you and then said she was gonna go and take care of it-yeah." Caboose's obliviousness was outright ridicoulus-they were all panicing about getting killed by a tank-and then here was Caboose, talking about it as if though it were all a game.

xxxxxx

Meanwhile...

"Cheating...bastard!" Rachael sniffed, firing another round into the rock and promising her self silently that Rubel was going to suffer for this.

xxxx

"Shit." The one word that summed it all up-that one, solitary word-and all because of some chick having typical, jealous chick problems. "Damn, and I thought Tex was a bitch." Tucker quipped, daring to peek out from behind the rock. "Yeah," Griff agreed, the pudgy soldier trying to catch his breath after only running 100 meters, "But normally she just beat the hell out of us."

"Yeah-this just take the whole psychotic bitch thing to whole new level-I should know-I dated an Latinia Chick once." Tucker's response kind of cased a few malvolent glares in his direction from the claymores. "Wait-hold on!" Helen and Tabitha seized the teal colored trooper, and before they could do whatever they had planned, the Bald man suddenly went flying. "There you are!" Came a deep voice filled with anger, "I was hoping to run into you-now-" They heard Baldie wimpering,"-you an I are gonna be spending some 'Alone Time'(this prompted a "Bowchickabowwow!" from tucker, much to the annoyance of the rest of the group)-"together." The heard the man crying-crying!-as he was dragged off to whatever fate awated him.

"There," Tex said in an arrogant tone of voice, "Problem solved." She noted that Tucker was held between the two claymores. "Well, lookie here-a Tucker sandwich." That brought a dark chuckle from everyone, and Tucker-being Tucker, opened his mouth:

"BOWCHICKABOWWO-OOWWWW!" The two claymores prompltly began beating the tar out of him. "OW! Hey!" Tucker cried, trying to defend himself from the two angred women beating on him, "Cut it out!"

"Aren't you going to help him?" Miria asked inquringly of Church as they watched. "Nah," Church said, clearly enjoying the spectacle, "I think he's got it." Tucker cried out as the sent him flying over the rock. "YAY! THEY MADE TUCKER FLY!" Caboose cried, jumping for joy, "I WANNA FLY NEXT!"

"Oh god." Church moaned as the two of them tossed Caboose.

"Ow, Okay-that hurt..." Caboose moaned as tucker let out a yelp. "Get off of me you idiot!"

"Yeah, I can't do that; I can't feel my legs-Oh god, I think they came off!"

"Those are my legs you idiot!"-A Pause-"Oh. You have very nice legs. I wish I had legs like that." Tucker gagged, "If that had been a chick saying that, that wouldn'tve been as weird."

They all rounded as Caboose and Tucker were picking themselves off the ground. "What do you suppose she's doing to him anyways?" Tucker asked no one in particular, "I mean, come one, she seemed pretty pissed at him." The Claymore looked at one another. "Let's just say we won't be seeing Rubel for a while." The cries of a man shamelessly wailing in agony echoed across the grounds to them.

"Yea," Helen muttered, shaking her head while trying no to laugh, "We definitely aren't gonna be seeing him for a while."

Note: Apologies to Dany Le Fou-you're not the only one who likes Rubel Torture.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3-The Big Kitty

A group of trainees were passing by as Sarge and Lopez were attempting to repair a Warthog that had been damaged during Rachel's little temper tantrum-several large dents had been put in it and some kind of green fluid was leaking out of it. Sarge was attempting to pull the dents out of it while the robot was attempting to stop whatever it was that was leaking. Glancing under, Sarge watched as the AI grasped the some kind of hose and was assessing whatever damage had been done to it.

"Why don't you try connectin' that hose-thingy to the mechanical doodad-" Lopez glanced up at him, saying nothing as a brief, tense silence passed between them. "I'll just let you fix it..." He said after several seconds, in a tone of voice that couldn't quite be called fear. "Hey misters?" Came a voice a child's voice from behind them, "What are you doing?"

Sarge turned to see a small girl who bore the trademark silver eyes of a claymore-her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, which she was twisting around in with one hand. "We're repairing our warthog." He replied, grunting as he strained to pullout another dent-and abruptly toppled off the stepladder he was using to get to the dents, seeing how as lopez had mounted the hog on top of several strong stone and metal supports, and promptly landed in a heap, drawn a giggle from the trainee. "Te dije que no a ponerse de pie ahí lo estúpido viejo!" Lopez droned in that flat mechanical voice, looking at the red leader as he picked him self up, "Usted debe de esperado hasta que se hizo la fijación del agujero en la línea de freno del jeep ".

"Ah lopez, you little rascal," he said fondly, dusting his armor off as the robot shook his head and went back to his task. "I love him, known him since he was first just a box of parts-now look at him-he's all grown up." His voice had becomed choked, like he was about to cry. "What's a warthog?" She asked, interrupting whatever sentments the red leader was feeling. "That, right there," He said, pride filling his voice as he made a sweeping gesture with his right arm, "Is the M12 Force Application Vehicle-I like to call it the warthog."

He put a hand on the trainee's sholder, guiding her to the side of the workstation. "It features seating for four, all wheel drive, one machine gunner's positon, high-intensity lights for nighttime operations, and an all-leather cow interior." He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, while the trainee stared at it in wonder. "This baby's seen me and the other reds, including a single disgrace, through some tough times, fighting through impossible odds."

"Sí. Es por eso que siempre termino teniendo que arreglar las cosas tontas que cada vez que salga en una sola que usted o corregir defectos de diseño idiotas." Lopez droned as he gave the small wrench in his hand a sharp twist. "Ah lopez, you kidder."

"It looks like a big kitty." The trainee pipped in, her eyes not leaving the vehicle. "What?" Sarge said, snapping out of his pride-bubble(yea-no other word for it), and looked down at the girl. "Yea-it looks like a big kitty!" She said again, looking up at him. Sarge let out a sigh, more out of resignation than anything-this was an old discussion, and then walked over to the 'hog as Lopez let out the closest thing to a laugh his voder would allow. "Todos hemos estado diciendo lo mismo durante años, y ahora esperamos con Sarge, aunque esta niña está de acuerdo con nosotros, usted debe cambiar el nombre del Puma en lugar del Warthog." Lopez came out from under the vehicle, carrying a red tool kit with him. "Todo se ha resuelto ahora, trate de no romper de nuevo-la última vez que te lo rompió, yo era incapaz de reparar y tuvo que reconstruir por completo desde cero."

Sarge chuckled. "Lopez you old kidder you." He turned to the trainee and pointed at the metal peices that held the wench. "What do these metal peices here look like?" He asked, the question seemed to be more of a dare than anything. "Um..." The trainee stammered uncertainly-she didn't seem to understand his change in mood. "They look like tusks-and what kind of animal has tusks?"

Before she got the chance to answer, a voice called out-"Hey, Lara? What are you doin over there?" Another group of trainees followed by a pair of claymores-one of them had long flowing hair, the other was incredibly muscular, and her hair was styled up in short spikes. He recalled that they had all initially, and from time to time, mistaken the spikey-haired one for a man. "This man says that thingy right there-" She pointed at the jeep, of which lopez was trying to figure out how to get down, "-doesn't look like a big cat." She looked back to them as Sarge let loose a frustrated sigh. "Actually, It kinda does." The long-haired one-Audrey-said, crossing an arm over her chest while placing her other hand under her chin, cocking her head, "Maybe a puma or something. What do you think Ray?"

Rachael snorted. "It does, doesn't it-though those metal things..." She place her hands on her hips, nodding her head towards the winch, "They kind of look like tusks. What the hell kind of cat has tusks?" "They don't." Sarge retorted-these people were starting to irritate him-he had his shotgun-was it time for the old contingency plan: Shotgun to the Face? "What kind of animal has tusks?" He repeated the question from earlier, a dangerous edge coming into his voice-that or it sounded like he was about to break down laughs-that southern accent of his made it hard to tell when he was threatening someone. "An elephant." Audrey said with a chuckle. "You made that animal up." Rachael said, looking at her friend with a mixture of disbelief and amusement, "Aren't you a little old to be playing with imaginary animals."

"Its a real animal, trust me-I've seen them in the southern part of continent." Audrey shook her head. "But back to the topic at hand-Sarge, I'm afraid we're going ot have to agree to disagree-it does look like a big cat-a puma perhaps?" Sarge growled-they we're getting no where. That's when he noticed Griff, Tucker, Caboose, and Simmions sprinting across the open ground, with Agent Washington driving them along. The other three seemed to be doing alright, but Grif was stumbling, trying to catch his breath. "Fu-fuck th-this shit..." The pudgy trooper gasped, pausing a moment to catch his breath, lagging behind the group slightly. They stopped briefly, pausing at the group of trainees and the pair of claymores standing in the middle of the feild. "What's going here, you two ladies watching us train?" Tucker chortled, wagging his eyebrows beneath his helemt, "I bet you two could you could use a work out-I'll be the personal instructor-Bow-chicka-bowwow!" This drew a groan from the others, except for caboose-who was staring off in the distance-nothing new there.

"Sarge," Wash said in a reprimanding tone-"Did you break another Warthog?" Sarge looked at him. "Well if it isn't our good buddy Agent Washington."

"Don't try to butter me up-I've told you-we don't know whe-" He was interrupted when he felt something tug on his arm-it was one of the trainees. "Hey mister-does that look like a big kitty to you?" She asked, her big silver eyes looking up at him-"Wai-what?" The former freelancer looked from her to the jeep then back to her, "What does this have to do with anything?"

"It doesn't." Sarge growled in an annoyed tone, "Because it does not look like a big cat-it has tusks." Wash shook his head, when Simmions chimed in. "We'll sir, I for one have to totally agree with you-it does not look like a big cat-it looks like a big pig." Simmions agreeing with sarge-Big surprise there. "Dude, I don't know-it looks like a cat to me-hey Caboose-what do you think?"

"Wait, what?" Caboose turned around, clearly not paying attention, "Sorry, I wasn't-wasn't really paying attention." 'No surprise there' Was the same thought that ran through their heads. "Nothing dude-just agree with me." Tucker snapped-dealing with caboose sometimes was like dealing with a three year old. "Okay-I agree-wait-what am I agreeing to?" Caboose said suspiciously, eyeing his fellow blue. "This conversation is ridiculous." Washington scolded, shaking his head at all of them. "The Warthog is piece of military equipment-A light reconnaissance vehicle that is used for rapid insertion and exflitration missions."

"But it looks like a big kitty." The trainee replied, Wash was about to retort when he heard the sound of metal crashing and bending-during the conversation, an exhausted griff had leaned against the Warthog(okay-practically collapsed against it) and it had fallen off the supports and then proceeded to roll down the hill-simply because his fat ass had leaned against it. The man was so heavy he had just flipped a 3 ton vehicle. Everyone just stared at him. "Wha-what?" griff was completely oblivious to what had just happened.

"Maldita sea-Acabo finshed fijar dicho-estúpido gordo bastardo!" Lopez exclaimed, shaking his fist and drawing a pistol. "Grif...this is one of those times where I find I can no longer tolerate you fatness." Sarge snarled, unlimbering his shotgun. "When-when is that different from any other time?" Grif panted, his hands on his knees. "Now," He said, loading shells into it, "I'm a fair man, so I'm gonna give you a secound chance-we'll give you a ten second headstart."

"Ah fuck..." Griff began to sprint-erm jog-as fast has his fat legs would carry him. Sarge and Lopez looked to one another, and then running after him, firing their weapons all the while, "Damnit griff-stop moving-I can't hit the bullseye on you back." The group stared at the spectacle of griff suddenly gaining the ability to sprint as sarge and lopez shot at him-and sure enough-some how a bullseye had gotten on his back-complete with point scoring.

"Is it just me-or does your Sergant have it in for that fat guy?" Rachel asked, a look of disbelief across his features. "Yeah, Griff isn't exactly what you call popular around here." Tucker replied, watching as griff somehow managed to execute a backflip in his shape, narrowly avoiding a plasma grenade that sarge had hurled at him. "Hold still grif-I need to test these new grenades on a live target!" Sarge hollered aftert him, tossing another grenade and followed it up by firing his shotgun. "Poor kitty." The trainee sniffed, looking at the mangle remains of the warthog, "That fat man broke you." She suddenly vanished and then seconds later grif went flying, hold his groin. "There you go little lady!" Sarge exclaimed as he fired his gun, "Hit some more-make him suffer!"

"Should we help him." Audrey asked, taking a step foward. They heard griff let out a cry then land in heap not 20 feet away. The trainee was walking towards him in a slow, menacing fashion, the two other reds flanking her-"Nah-he's good." Tucker replied as he began limping away, the trainee giving him a good boot in the rear as he tried in vain to flee.

Washington shook his head. Just another average day with the reds and blues-holy god-someone just slit his jugular now. "Alright-the rest of you-start sprinting." The group took off, tucker was running, but not managing an all out sprint. "I said sprints Private Tucker!"

Tucker took off-"I'm gonna spit in your next meal-and it ain't gonna be sprints if you know what I mean!"

He looked back at the claymores-shook his head, then took off after the troopers. "I still say it looks like a big cat." Audrey muttered as she watched. The two of them then went back to herding their charges along, with one exception.

"Would you just fucking leave me alone already!" Griff whined as the the trainee kicked him in the groin several times, a look of savage glee on her face, as sarge cheered.

xxxxx

I'm sorry-I'm currently experimenting with adding gestures and other things to make characters more expressive-hoping this will improve my writing in Fire and Fury-unfortunately the muse really isn't talking to me on that one at the moment-so this will be what I update until it gets talking again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:Old foes return...New Threats?

Church stood up, scanning a large, barren plain-the odd rock formation jutting out of the ground like they had been placed their almost as an afterthought by whatever higher power had created this place. He took aim, caressing the trigger with his finger-waiting for that one, split second a sniper needed to make the shot. He sqeezed...

_BAM!BAM!BAM!_

Laughter abounded as all three shots-fired in rapid succession failed to hit their target-a big damn rock. "Dude-seriously." Tucker shook his head. "That rock's like 15 feet wide, and is as big as me." "Not to mention," Helen chimed in, an amused expression coloring her face as she leaned against a large boulder, folding her arms across her chest, "It was like five feet away." She guestured to the dozen or so bullet holes that surrounded the rock the Blue leader had been trying to hit.

"Maybe you should consider letting other people use the sniper rifle," Tucker suggested, his tone indicating exactly who should use the vaunted weapon that the AI held in his hands, "Seeing how your aim sucks any way." "Fuck you." Church snarled, making a few guestures.

"Perhaps you should consider using a diffrent weapon." Came Miria's voice. Stepping out from the shadow of one of the many buildings that had been hollowed out from the natural rock formations that surrouneded the town of Staff. The x-shaped scar on her face stood out in harsh sunlight, punctuated even more by her pale complextion. "If you continue using a weapon that you are not even trained with-you're liable to be a danger to friend and foe alike."

A smile crossed her lips. "Maybe a sword-or maybe a spear-it has a nice, long shaft with a large steel tip. Plenty of reach and isn't hard to use." Tucker couldn't help himself-"I got a nice long shaft for you to use captain-Bowchickabowwow!" Everyone just stared at him. Helen pressed her lips together as Miria approached the Teal soldier. She pressed against him, draping her arms alon her back -Tucker reached down, intent on clasping his hands on her nice, firm ass-and-

_Wham_ "What the fuck!" He squealed in a high pitched voice as he collapsed, clutching his groin. Miria had appaerently hit him right in the tenderbox. Helen and Church both had a laugh as he lay on the ground, looking up at his attacker. "Perhaps now you'll keep your mouth shut and your hands to yourself." She said in an all too causal tone, turning with an extra swish in her hips, making her movements as sensual as possilbe...

xxxxx

_"You bitch..."_ A large, white armored trooper stood in the distance, watching the whole exchange through his helmet-strange symbols that only he could comprihend along his HUD-he heard the voices in his head:

_"Those are some of the ones who tried to kill you." _A smooth, persuasive voice said, almost like used cars salesman trying to sell his shoddy wares to an unsuspecting figure growled his agreement-unable to do little to convey his thoughts and words-at least what was left of the original personality that remained-with little else due to an injury he received in battle.

_"**You must destroy them!**"_ Another voice urged-this one was filled with rage and hate. "**Kill them all, avenge yourself! KILL! KILL!**" He agreed with that one-at least-he thought it was another voice. "Yes...we must destroy them to prevent our defeat a second time-they will not succeed. ha ha!" This voice was flat-emotionless like a machine's, artifical in nature. A cool male voice rplied: "Yes, if my calculations are correct-now would be a good time to strike, for they will prove more difficult once alerted to our presence."

The Meta growled his agreement-it was time for vengance-the Simulation Troopers had stood in his way once-had thought him dead.

The freelance was about to show them how very very wrong they were-and the first to go would be the Alpha...

xxxxxx

"Seriously-what the fuck is your problem you bitch." Tucker whined as he gathered himself up, the captain's smirk of triumph never leaving her face. Helen had never seen Miria act like this before-oh, she was going to have a field day with this...

Wait-what was that? There was a faint shimmer in the air, bits of dust being kicked up-was it the wind. No wait-it was defenatly something out of the ordinary-too deliberate to be the wind-it was moving right towards Church. She opened her mouth to call out a warning...

Then it struck.

"Hahah-I kind of enjoyed that-maybe you claymores aren't so bad after al-Hurghk!" Church was suddenly lifted into the air, grasping at whatever held him in its grip. "CHURCH!" They all cried simultainously, lunging for...whatever it was. Tucker staggered to his feet, his legs threatening to give out from under him as intense pain shot from his crotch to his skull. 'Damn it Maria...' He thought bitterly as his vision swam. He activated his energy sword-but knew he would be too late..

The shimmering, vagely humanoid shape raised its arm, preparing strike with something in its hands. Church struggleed in vain, trying to escape, kicking against it uslessly, his legs meeting some kind of armor. Time seem to slow down-it struck just as Tucker let out a cry of protest-this was it-he had finally bought it, after everything he'd been through...

_CLANG!_

A huge broadsward parried whatever it was, and struggled to keep it level. "D-Damn it!" Miria grunted, suddenly finding herself strggling to match the strength of her unknown foe-she couldn't sense a damned thing-what the hell was it "Helen! Now!" Take her captains cue, the rowdy warrior swung at it-and was met with the satifying sensation of metal meeting flesh-at least she thought it was flesh. Whatever it was forced back, dirt churned up as if though something extremely heavy had been forced back. A breif shimmering, and one of the biggest men she had run across appeared infront her. His visor was yellow, rounded, as if though the armor protection didn't matter. The armor was white in color, the armor was of simliar build to the blues, only some how diffrent-subtle differnences were apparent though...

"No...N-no." Fear had entered Church's voice, he took a step backwards-visably trembling, "We-we stopped him-he was-was dead." He raised the sniper rifle, and the warrior lept, his powerful legs propelling him through the air-bringing what looked like some kind of hand cannon with a long, curving blade sticking out it. He began firing, raining small rockets around the Blue Leader, attempting to corner him, then as he began his descent brought the blade down.

Church raised the rifle, knowing that he had no hope in hell of stopping this massive juggenaught, but he knew he couldn't out run him either. He fired his rifle wildly, the rounds going wild despite his(albiet lousy) aim. He closed his eyes, waiting for that final blow...

It didn't come-someone shoved him away as he heard the clang of metal on metal. "What the hell?" He heard Helen ask frantically, her sword flashing rapidly as Miria brought the AI out of range. Tucker swung his own blade, striking a searing blow across the soldier's abdomen-yet despite between Helen's frantic pounding and the power of Tucker's sword, their opponet didn't seem fazed. "It's clear he's after you," She stated matter-of-factly, bringing her sword to bear, "You need to run Church-get as far away from here as possible."

"Wait!" Church stammered, stumbling slightly as Miria shoved him back again, "Y-you can't fight him! He's too strong!" Miria shook her head, and a faint golden glow came into her eyes. "No human's a match for a claymore." And with blinding speed, she lept at her opponet, leaving nothing more than a phantom image behind. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Church thought as he stumbled away from the battlefield.

This could not be happening...it couldn't be...

xxxxx

A group had gathered around a sparing arena. "Yeah Carolina!" Grif cheered as she launched a punch, his extra chins moving as he jumped, "Kick her-" That's when he heard it-a sound that made a shiver go down his spine. There was no mistaking it-rapid gunfire followed by a series of explosions. "Did you guys hear that?" He asked, grabbing his helmet and battle rifle. "Did we hear what?" Simmions asked, a confused look on his face. "I thought I heard, well, what sounded like explosions."

"Grif, you sure you didn't just fall asleep again?" The other trooper retorted, drawn a chuckle from the group-the man's snores could put even the loudest of explosions to shame. That's when they saw Church go flying, his arms flailing through the air as his rifle landed just beyond his reach. "Church!" He heard Tex shout as the two freelancers stopped fighting and rushed over to him. "What the hell happened." She looked up at a purple armored trooper-"Doc, get the hell over here! He needs help!" "Okay." He brought his scanner and medical bag along with him.

They up as they saw Tucker, Miria, and Helen frantically dodging small rockets, explosions churing up dust and debries. "Hey-you missed!" Tucker taunted, and the dove for cover behind a large rock as more rockets rained around him. The two claymores were panting hard from their exertions. The figure that came out brought out a gasp out of the gather offworlders.

"S-Sarge!" Grif stammer/shouted, bringing his rifle to bear, "Y-you need to come over here!" Simmions brought his rocket launcher to bear. The two freelancers brought up their own weapons, readying to fight. "I thought you guys killed him!" Carolina snarled as she trained her weapon on their opponet. "So did we!" Simmions said frantically, doging a pair of rockets that should've hit him. The figure roared, running straight towards the pair. The two claymores moved to intercept but were swatted aside like flies-the figure swung his fist...

xxxxx

"For the last time Sarge," Wash said, shaking his head as Donut and Caboose looked on, "That is completely idiotic-why would you even consider doing that?" Sarge chuckled, shifitng his shotgun left and right. "No it ain't-strapping a cold fusion-slash-coffee maker to warthog as a power source is a great idea-It'll power it for centuries!" He replied, obviously pleased with himself, "Plus you can get a nice hot cup of joe while on the road so you don't have to stop at roadside diners and possibly get killed by an derranged axe-wielding lunatic."

Washington growled at him. "Dear god I hate you." He muttered, and then glared at him, the scar on his forehead twitching, "The warthog's engine is desinged to run on any semi-combustable substance-besides-cold fusion reactors are highly radio active, and anyone who drank the coffee would most likely end up with radiation poisoning."

"I like coffee-it smells really nice, and it makes you go to the bathroom alot after you drink a lot of it." Caboose stated. This drew looks from everyone. "Wow." Was all that Wash could say to that. Donut chuckled, the pink trooper clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Caboose," He said in a somewhat...femine voice. "You would you like to play the quiet game with me?"

"The quiet game!" He exlaimed enthusiastically. Caboose was like an enthusiastic three year old-"I love playing games..." Their helm-comms pinged, then each of them opened them-execept for maybe Caboose, who was looking around to try and find the source of the noise.

_"S-Sarge!"_ Came the radio transmission, _"Y-you need to come over here!"_ Sarge toggled his helmet. "What do you want dirtbag!" He heard the explosions-good; maybe whatever it was would kill him. _"It's him! He's back!" _They all paused a moment. "Wash here-who's back?" Washington was trying to get more info. "Ah leave him," Sarge grunted, checking his shotgun, "He can handle whatever it is." he toggled his radio off, indicating that the other two should do the same.

"Shut up sarge-who is it? Who's attacking you?"

An icy dagger plunged into his stomach as he received the reply

"All of you, let's go-now." Wash didn't give any of them time to protest as he grabbed his rifle and charged off. "Man, so agressive." Donut said, following after him. Sarge simply grunted and followed the pair. "Yay! We're going on a trip!" Caboose shouted.

xxxxx

A second figure watched in the distance-they had beaten her into submission-forced her to crawl like a maggot in the dirt-she had barely enough strength to pull herself together after what that _bitch_ did to her. And now-it seemed a new foe and a golden opportunity had appeared.

It was time.

The awkened being spread her wings, and took flight.

xxxxx

"Why you-!?" Rachel brought her sword, dragging it along the ground as she prepped her strong sword-and abruptly had it parried, her oppenet giving a little ground. "Waa-!" Her oppenet suddenly forced her back, knocking her off her feet through sheer brute force. The remaining simulation troopers arrived with Wash. "Agent Maine?" The man turned towards them, and then began firing, scattering them.

"Damnit!" Miria snarled, signaling to others, "Spread out-don't give him a clear line of attack!" The claymores rushed him from all sides, their swords flashing...and were repelled. Maine dropped a large, rapidly expanding bubble of light-the claymore's slamming against it. Yet was a good sign in Miria's opinion-he had been forced on the defenesive. It meant they were gaining ground against their new opponet. "That's it everyone-keep the pressure on him!" She signaled to Helen indicating that she should hit him from a distance, and hard.

"OH YEAH!" Helen relased her yoki, extending her sword arm like a giant spear, aimed right for his heart...and felt the sensation of metal sinking into flesh. Her blade had passed clean through her target-hope surged through them-until..

A wave of yoki slammed into them, threatening to overwhelm them all-even the normal people there felt it. "What the-?" Confusion abounded-even the giant of a man they were fighting was given pause...

"No way." Someone said-Miria could've sworn it was her own voice. Something slammed into the ground, knocking Helen's extended arm away from the soldier and forcing her back.

"Now what!?" Wash growled as the sqaud pointed their weapons uncertainly in the direction of the dust cloud that had appeared in their midst. "Well, well, well," Said a cool, arrogant female voice, "What do we have here." It was humanoid in shape, clearly feminene-with tousled hair and wings sticking out of its back. Some kind of yellowed, hard plating, organic in nature, covered her body, forming a moving suit of armor for her.

A single, small horn stuck out of the top of her head. Her baleful yellow eyes darted alertly arround, taking stock of the situation. "My my," She said, seeing the human that her former comrades had being fighting, "How far my former sisters have fallen, if a mere human can overpower them." A smile crossed her lips. "Perhaps this will be even easier than I thought."

She raised her sword-one similar to those wielded by the claymores. "I think I'll start with you." The monster rushed Miria, bringing her sword down in a vicious chop-she knew she wouldn't be able to stop it in time-she tapped her yoki, releasing a burst of speed that had saved her many times in the past.

It wasn't enough. Pain lanced through her as blood blossomed across her chest from where the sword hit her. "Sis!" Helen shouted, making a move to attack-and was suddenly repelled as the white soldier recover from her attack and began firing on her. "Shit!"

"Open fire!" Wash ordered, rasing his own weapon-the assembled troopers began fring at both the one horned monster and Maine...

xxxxx

"It would seem that additional factors have come into play here we did not expect." The cool voice said, making rapid calculations and adjusting algorithms, "The appearance of the monster has decreased the odds of survival by 50%-for it seems hostile to both the simulation troopers and the native warriors alike. I would suggest a withdrawl for now-if it terminates the soldiers and native warrior, then retrieving the AI will be that much easier."

Maine hissed-he wanted it, wanted to increase his power-he needed more power, but for once, the voices inside his head were all urging him to run. He activated his opticamo unit, and fled.

xxxxx

The monster made a note of the soldier withdrawing. 'Interesting,' She thought, dancing around as series of small yet powerful projectiles hammered her, 'He must be hoping I'll do his dirty work for him.' She looked back to the humans, and smiled. "Perhaps I'll have meal on a later date-ta ta for now."

The she vanished.

"Dude-who the fuck was that?" Tucker asked, deactivating his energy sword, "And what did she mean-a meal on a later date." Wash shook his head, "I don't know, but she made Maine back off, which can't be good."

"She's an awakened being." Miria responded, sheathing her sword and grimaced at the movement, "She's known as Priscilla, the one-horned monster." She approached them, eyeing each and every red and blue there.

"And now-you have some explaining of you own to do." She glared specifically at Washington, "You seemed to know that man-so who was he." It was not a question, but a demand. Wash took a deep breath, and then replied.

"The Meta."

xxxx

Okay...yes I brought both the Meta and Prissy into play-so sue me...though it may seem a bit of an asspull.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Meta and the One who exceeds the Abyssals

"Okay-now start from the beginning," Miria said as they all seated themselves around a table that had been once used as the mess hall for the humans and trainees of the organization, "Just what is this 'Meta' you referred to?" Shed looked right at Washington as she spoke-and also made a note that all the reds and blues except Tex and Church were present. Her chest still smarted from where Priscilla had cut-if she hadn't moved when she did...she shuddered inwardly at what might have happened. Grif was stuffing his face with as much food as he could-no surprise there. "Only the scariest fucking mute in the galaxy." Simmons answered, remembering just what had been done to his rocket launcher. "Yeah-we had to tie him to a warthog," Grif said, smiling at the memory, and then remembering when he hd almost joined him, "Then tossed him off a cliff." Wash shook his head-he remembered that. He made of note of Grif's pace of eating-it had, he didn't know how, become faster. "You're doing an extra round of training Private, just so you know." He said, to which the Yellow trooper responded with a "Fuck you." That came out as "fuf you."

Doc was busy wrapping a bandage around the open wound-Tucker had been about to make some kind of comment, but had been quickly silenced thanks in part due to the stigma-though he didn't seem put off much by it-and the fact that the incident from earlier proved that she wasn't going to tolerate his jokes. The tingling in her foot caused her to raise an eyebrow. "My foots tingling-is that normal?" She asked the medic. "Yes it is." he replied, and then pulled out his scanner, "I'll run a few tests on you to make sure everything checks out." He paused a moment, his scanner making an odd static noise. "Ah crap..." He gave it a few hard shakes, followed by smacking it few times against his palm, "Oh great-Hey Simmons?" He called, looking at the Maroon trooper, "Mind taking a look at this-its been acting weird since you overcharged it."

Miria looked at him incredulously-"Your telling me you tried to use a malfunctioning piece of equipment to scan me?" Doc looked at her, and then shrugged, "Yeah-we overcharged it to short out...well that guy you saw-tried make some of his systems malfunction." He shook his head at the memory as he played with the scanner's settings-it then sparked and sputtered. "OW!" He hissed, and then it shut down completely, "Shit." Simmons sucked in a breath, "Ooh,yeah, doc?" He said, shaking his head as the medic brought his scanner over"I don't think your gonna be able to use that anymore."

"Oh well." Doc sounded defeated.

The claymore leader shook her head. "Now-The Meta." Carolina and Wash looked at one another, and then sighed. "Maine was a member of the same organization that me and Agent Washington belonged to." Carolina explained, sadness in her voice, "It was a group dedicated towards experimenting with AI Implantation to see if it could serve to enhance UNSC troopers in the field." Miria held up a hand. "What exactly is the UNSC?" She inquired. "The United Nations Space Council-they're inc harge of the Military, Scientific, and Space exploration of the United Earth Government during the Great War." They all perked up at that. "Great War?" She asked, this had caused her lean forward slightly-"Yes...Between the humans and the Covenant."

Before anyone could ask further questions-Washington spoke; "The organization responsible for the creation of the Meta was called Project Freelancer-like Carolina said, it was a state of the art scientific endeavor, with one goal in mind: to ensure the security of humanity in a harsh and violent galaxy, as the Director often liked to say...but..." His voice trailed off. "But it didn't end up that way, did it?" Miria finished matter of factly.

"No." Washington agreed, "You see, Project Freelancer was a military organization gone horribly wrong. The men in charge were corrupt and the soldiers who followed them were blind-guess which side me and Carolina were on." Miria nodded, and Deneve responded with-"It sounds like the Organization." The captain's thoughts exactly, "I can hear the but in that..."

"But," Carolina said, "It was eventually torn apart by its own creations." Yeah, definitely sounded like the organization. "You see, the Director at the time was issued a single smart AI."

"Hey," Helen nudged Deneve, a smile on her face, "What?" She muttered back. "What's an AI?" Deneve shook her head-"I don't know Helen. Ask one of them." She said, indicating one of the offworlders. "Hey, I got a question?" She said, looking at the two freelancers. "What is it?" Wash replied in an annoyed tone. "What's an AI?"

He should've seen that coming. "Its a computer program." He retorted, "Something made on a highly advanced machine." That didn't answer her question-those letters had to stand for something.

"So whats the A stand for? I mean come on, those letters have to mean something."

Wash sighed, "The A stands for Artificial."

"What does the I stand for?"

"Intelligence."

"So how are they made?" Wash sighed...oh dear god...someone shoot him. "There are two type of AI-those that are programmed to very specific tasks using advanced mathematics and algorithms, and then their are smart AI's." He explained for the benefit of them all, "Artificial Intelligences that have been patterned from an actual person's memories."

"And I'm guessing this 'smart' AI fell into the wrong hands." Miria's tone did not suggest that this was a suggestion, but rather a fact. "Kind of." Wash replied, "It was based of the memories of the Director, however, the fact remains that they were only issued one AI, and unfortunately the people in charge of the program got desperate as things didn't look to good for our side in the war-many programs were funded to try and come up with the magic bullet to win the war-Project Freelancer was one such program with their studies of aggressive AIs."

"But, they couldn't get any more or make copies-you see, because its based on the memories of an actual person, it means that any attempts to copy it will result in an unstable product," Wash sighed, the bitter memories surfacing..."So the Director came up with theory, if they couldn't copy it, they would do the next best thing." There was something in his tone that hinted at the atrocities that may have been comitted...

Miria realized what just he was implying. "They tortured it." She clenched her fists-even though it hadn't been real, it was still technically an actual person. The freelancer nodded grimly, "So they set up situations of stress and danger, and in order to protect itself, the Alpha began to fragment, splitting off bits of its personality-it fragmented, and then men in charge of the program harvested the fragments-bit of raw emotion."

Carolina looked away, deeply ashamed at what her father had done. "And that was the result of the Meta." She said, sadness in her voice, "Me and the Director were responsible for what he had become-each fragment," She said, her voice breaking, "Was specifically matched for each person's personality, mine was Sigma-its creative spirit-but I gave it to Maine."

"Then he became this Meta you speak of." Carolina nodded, "It took him over, then became obsessed with gathering the other fragments, going on a rampage in an attempt to achieve something called 'metastability', a form of AI rampancy where it could be considered 'Human', at the same time the Meta gained additional equipment."

Helen chuckled darkly, "Wow, and I thought Priscilla was bad." She said to no one in particular. "Yeah," Grif said through a mouthful of food, "That thing that landed in the middle of the fight, she ain't got nothing on the meta."

"Which reminds me," Wash said, carefully phrasing the question, "We all felt the power coming off the at thing-what was it exactly?" Miria exhaled a breath. "An awakened being, a former number two by the name of Priscilla, she came to existence during a battle against Teresa of the Faint Smile-she has enough raw power she can survive almost any attack, and can easily defeat even the Creatures of the Abyss, when they were still alive." Miria looked each one of them in the eye. "It could be that she simply went to investigate this Meta, to see if he was worth going after."

"Oh man, just wait till Clare-" Helen paused a moment, her eyes wide as she realized what she had said, "Oh my god Clare! Her and Raki don't know she's still alive-if she finds them, they'll be sitting ducks!"

"Great," Grif sneered, throwing down his food on his plate, "We've got the Meta, and now some super-power monster chick to worry about." Simmons agreed with him-anything that could make Grif put down food was enough to make him nervous. "So we just avoid her and take out the Meta." Tucker stated, leaning back in his chair, "Problem solved."

"And what if Priscilla finds this Meta when you all fight him-then what?" Miria said, looking at each and every one of them, "I'd say that our problems are one and the same-we need to find away to fight both the Meta and Priscilla, and I know where to start-Priscilla will not only be looking for the Meta, but Clare as well...so we find Clare and Raki."

"And how in the hell do you propose we do that?" Helen burst out, "Its not like their going to up and walk through that door!" As she said this, the door opened up and in stepped two all too familiar figures. "Clare?!" Helen seemed shocked. Miria smiled, "We were just talking about the two of you."

"Guess that's why Clare's nose has been itching." Raki beamed at them all-he had mop of messy brown hair, a well defined figure, and was dressed well worn but neat clothing, pants, a vest, and a brown shirt. At his side was a simple longsword. The woman looking standing beside him had a strange, emotionless look on her face, and wore the standard issue uniform that all claymores had. "You two had better sit down," Miria said, indicating a pair of empty chairs, "I've got some bad news for you...

xxxx

The computer I've been using will eventually be going in for repairs, so I'm trying to get as much of this done as I can-Fire and Fury will not be undergoing any further updates until after the computer gets repaired.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Fun Times ahead.

Raki had paled when Miria had given him and Clare the news that Priscilla was back. Clare's own face was a mask of anger rather than her usual calm demeanor. "We killed her," She snarled, slamming a fist on the table and causing the heavy wood to buckle, "We all saw her go down." Miria shook her head. "Well apparently you guys didn't do a very good job killing her now did you?" Grif retorted, taking a large bite out of a chicken leg. Clare turned her angry glare on the pudgy trooper.

Grif gulped audibly and shrank beneath her withering glare. "And who are you?" She asked, her low feminine voice. "Errrm..." He actually seemed frightened-the man was a coward? "Dexter Grif ma'am." He immediately went back to shoving his face. "You really need to know when to keep you mouth shut!" Simmons snapped at him. "And where in the hell did you get all that food?"

"I was wondering that as well." Miria said, looking at the red. "Erm..." Griff paused a moment.

xxxxx

_"And this right here is the mess hall," Tabitha said, giving the reds and blues a tour of Staff per Miria's orders-she had up and volunteered, pegging her as a Kiss Ass in Grif's view-gestured to a large, iron-bound door, "And just beyond that large iron-bound door with a big heavy padlock is the kitchens-normally it'd be locked in order to protect the food stores from midnight raids by hungry members of the Organization, but as there have been few or no humans living in Staff fo some time, we haven't bothered locking it."_

_Grif stared for a moment. "Now, moving on..." Tabitha said, smiling. "Yeah guys go on ahead with out me-I'll catch up later..." Tabitha looked at him, then shrugged, "Okay then, just don't be long." They all moved on. "Great," He heard Simmons mutter-"They just unleashed a monster in their kitchen."_

_He went to the door, gave it a pull(more like a tug), and it slowly but surely began to swing open, its hinges creaking. "This thing must weight like a thousand pounds." He muttered as he used his titanic strength(okay-put his weight to good use) to open the heavy door. It finally opened to show a large kitchen/larder._

_"Oh yea," He said with a chuckle, rubbing his hands together eagerly, "Come to papa!"_

xxxxx

"Um, Internet?" He lied, taking another bite of the chicken. "Uh-huh." Miria said, clearly not convinced. She made a mental note to start locking the food stores.

"How in the hell do you get a fully cooked meal off the internet?" Simmons asked skeptically, "That doesn't even make sense!" Grif decided not to respond but instead continue to chew the same mouthful of chicken. "Now, we need to come up with a plan to beat both Priscilla and the Meta." Miria said, looking at each of them in turn, "Any suggestions?"

"Um, stay the fuck away from them so we don't get our asses kicked?"

"Run like hell in the other direction?"

"Shotgun to the face?"

"Become best friends with them!"

They all turned and looked at Caboose, who had been standing next to the door. "Is he serious?" Helen asked, staring incredulously at him, "Asking Clare to become friends with Priscilla is like asking if she'd share her hunk over her with the rest of us." Raki blushed deeply as Clare glared at her-Helen had been asking that ever since they had beaten her mortal enemy three years ago. "Dude, its Caboose? What did you expect?" Tucker replied, clearly annoyed.

"Caboose," Miria said calmly, "Why don't go out and play with some of the trainees, Cynthia's out there with them and I'm sure she'd appreciate the help." "Yay!" He said enthusiastically, bolting out the door, "I love playing games-especially ones where we get..." His voice grew fainter into indistinct echoes. "Who was that guy?" Raki asked them, "And more importantly-did he seem a little...off to you?"

"Oh that-that's just Caboose," It was Deneve who had answered, "And as for him being off, well we've learned in the past couple of months just to smile and deal with it-he's nice, just...off." Helen snickered. "Cynthia seems to like him though-wonder if she has a crush on him?"

xxxx

Out on the training grounds, Cynthia sneezed. What was that about?

xxxx

"No way!" Tucker shot back, "The guy's an idiot..." This sparked an even more heated debate.

Miria just sighed as the group continued to gossip-and then turned to the two freelancers and the couple sitting infront of him. "Alright-now for our current problem-here's what we should probably do..."

"Fun times ahead." Helen muttered to Simmons, who nodded in agreement.

xxxxx

Cynthia shook her head, chuckling. The trainees were hooting and laughing as they dodged around rocks and tried hiding in the shadow in attempts to ambush one another. Some of them even had a few mock battles, pretending to be heroes of some kind. "Man," She heard Rachel say with a snort, "They make an awful lot of noise don't they?" This discussion was not unusual. She, Rachel and Audrey had been assigned to watch the trainees-Ray often complained about it, but her friend usually just teased her. Cynthia herself didn't mind watching the trainees-though she herself envied her sometimes-they actually got the chance to be kids.

"Are sure your not just saying that because your jealous Ray?" Audrey asked her, raising an eyebrow. Her friend scoffed, "What? Of them?" She gestured to the trainees, "Why would I be jealous of a bunch of kids?" "I don't know," She said in a sly tone of voice, "Because they actually have the chance to be kids unlike you and me?"

'How did she know?' Cynthia wondered, until she heard footsteps from behind her. "Hello." Came a voice, "And how are you today?" She turned around and saw Caboose standing right behind her. Chuckling, she greeted him with a nod. "I'm fine thank you-and yourself?"

"I am fine, thank you for asking." He turned as if though noticing the other two claymores for the first time. "Hi pretty lady and manly lady-how are you today?" Audrey laughed as Rachel growled, making a threatening move towards him. "Why you little-" She made a move to grab Caboose by the front of his armor, and was stopped by Audrey. "Hold on Ray," She said, interposing herself between the simulation trooper and her friend, "I'm sure our friend here didn't mean anything by it." She turned back to the blue.

"I don't beleive we've met-I'm Audrey, and this here is Rachel." She said, indicating the woman behind her, who muttered something under her breath along the lines of an insult, "And you are?" She held out her hand, and Caboose shook it eagerly. "I'm Caboose!" He beamed at them, his blue eyes sparkling. "How nice to meet you Caboose."

"Yay-I made a couple of new best friends." That made them all raise and eyebrow. "Erm...yes." Audrey said uncertainly, "I guess you have."

Cynthia glared at the two of them-maybe the rumors they were spreading about her were true-they did like. "Hey Caboose?" She said, trying to keep the other two from keeping his already short attention span fully occupied, "Why aren't you with the rest of your team? I though Miria was talking to you all?"

"Yeah, but she had me come out here to play games with you and the trainees." He responded, and a wicked grin spread to Rachel's face that would put Ophelia to shame. "So? She sent you out here to play huh?" Audrey looked at her friend uncertainly. "Hey kids-this guy says he wants to play with you!" The trainees all paused a moment, and looked at Caboose, who was now standing there like a deer caught in a set of headlights.

"Really mister?" The trainees were all looking at him with big hopeful eyes, "Yes!" He responded cheerfully, and the trainees cheered, one of them leading him along. The poor guy didn't know what he was in for...

"RAWR!" He shouted, chasing after them as they scattered, squealing and laughing as they ran along, "I AM CABOOSE! THE TRAINEE CHASER!" One of them jumped on his back, attempting to use her unnatural strength to try and pull him down-and yet he kept going. "Uh...a little help guys?" She called, and several more jumped on him, trying to pin him down.

"Man," Ray said as they all looked on in disbelief, "That guy must be strong!" Even a trainee was stronger than an ordinary human, but this...this was ridculos-he had at least five trainees dangling from his arms and one on his back as he began spinning around, the trainees giggling and whooping as they spun.

"YAY!" He said, spinning faster, "I have lots of new best friends!" Suddenly the trainee on his back went flying as she lost her grip. Cynthia rushed forward, catching her in her arms. "Wow." The trainee said, looking at him, "That was fun."

'Fun times ahead.' She thought as she watched the trainees play with the trooper. Well, there was one good thing that resulted from this-the trainess had a playmate now who could at least match their physical strength-if not their speed and intelligence.

xxxxx

"So," Miria said as they all moved out of the central building, "Now it begins-guess there are going to be some fun times ahead." Now they just needed away to find both of their opponents...

xxxx

I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with this chapter, the Miria bit was some thing I at least had an Idea of, but Caboose, not so much.


End file.
